Life is a Highway

Life in SouthAsiaLand is always exciting. Even the most routine things can be blogworthy. We don't have a car but using public transportation gives plenty of photo opportunities.

Leaving the house I passed some ladies cleaning the curb WITH A SPONGE! This is also a prime example of the "SouthAsiaLand Squat." Folks here can sit like this all day. It is amazing to see carpenters and cobblers using their toes like a vice.


At the next traffic light/bus stop, there's always room for one more. The term bus stop is used a bit loosely here, maybe they should be called a bus roll or a bus California stop.

About this time, my auto-rickshaw driver slams on the brakes and swerves to the side. Crazy swerving isn't rare enough riding in these things, but the driver had a peculiar smile which was strange. After a little prodding, he told me that he is running from the police because he just ran the red light. Now, that sounds worse than it is, because traffic lights and traffic laws are loosely followed. But this time there were policemen standing in the road with 6 foot-long sticks. So after swinging a sharp U-turn we took some back roads and continued our journey.
At the next traffic light, we actually stopped at this one, we pulled up next to another bus. It appears that this one is covered with a thin layer of cake frosting. yum!....wait that's not frosting...ewww.


Many trucks and cars are covered with bright messages and specific instructions. This one is a great reminder for those incontinent drivers and pedestrians out there. It says, "Please use Diper at night." aka... "Use your low beams, or dipper."

After a big of swerving and swooping past this giant potato and a few leisurely cyclists, I arrived at my destination. What an experience for a $1.25!

SheF's ConsTructioN PapeR CarD CreationS

I have made a bunch of these Cards, but I only can find a couple right now.


This card was for Andrea's first Mother's Day! Notice the baby's heartbeat and when it jumps from Andrea laughing during the Sonogram, Classic! I even tried to included some nice cultural things. In SouthAsiaLand a married woman wears, among other things, a little red line in the part of her hair.




This was for my Mom on her birthday a couple years back (see the little birthday cake in the whale's spout water). How nice! a card for your mother on the day she gets older with a BEACHED WHALE on it. Love you Mom!




This is bad picture (pre-scanner). This card was a going-away gift for my friend Lance. Here are 4 different memories captured in 4 pictures.
1.We used to play DDR (Dance Dance Revolution).
2. I would make Super-Sandwiches (my specialty).
3. The first night leading the youth program a car drove by playing "It's getting hot in here..." If you know the rest then you know why we were embarrassed at the youth meeting.
4. We had a blast the first night we hung out and drove over Lake Panchartrain on I-10 in Louisiana.


This was a card for our friend Judie who tried out for American Idol. This is her rocking out to a Dixie Chicks song in the Supa'Dome. Andrea helped her get her audition ready. I got to play one of the judges during our practice auditions. You rock JUDIE!

That's all I could find for now. Stay tuned for more Construction Paper Madness!

I'm still alive

Howdy!
It's been a long time since I posted something. I guess I just ran out of extremely important things to say. Andrea and I just got back from Thailand. We took a little R and R. It was nice. We dressed up like Napoleon Dynamite characters, shot paint balls, ate... a lot, got a little sunburned, snorkeled, met unfriendly jellyfish, got stuff pilfered in the hotel, and ate some more. It was nice.

A Shoo-in!

Election time is upon us once again. As the normal custom, municipal improvements are made right before election day. The powers that be in SouthAsiaLand have decided to make some "well-needed" improvements. Although it’s not visible in the photo, they have installed a brand new, shiny traffic light. Believe it or not, this intersection is called “fast car.”

There are more than a few interesting items in this photo. Firstly. the line of horse carts (max speed 10-12 mph, probably) at the “fast-car” intersection with the new traffic light. Secondly, I really enjoy the SQUARE manhole cover neatly placed on top of the ROUND man hole. Whoever is running is shoo-in for re-election.

Top Gun Pizza

No matter where I go or what I do, I still love pizza. I am so glad that I have Pizza Hut in SouthAsiaLand. For the most part, the pizza is the same, but the service is always “top notch” or “Top Gun” as you’ll probably agree. In SouthAsiaLand, there are benefits to eating-in at the Pizza Hut restaurant. To name just a couple: they have a big bell that you get to ring when you leave and they do group Bollywood-style dancing every night.

I have worked in a million restaurants. If you don’t believe me, check my myspace page ( www.myspace.com/southasiarolls ). I am quite impressed with the level of service that I get when going to Pizza Hut. After taking my order they give me a oddly-precise pizza arrival time (aka OPPAT, as we call it in the biz). “Thank you sir, your pizza will arrive in 12-14 minutes.”

This place is no joke; the servers are always wearing these sleek black uniforms and running or jumping around like crazy. If that doesn’t make the dining experience awesome enough, one server stands out above the rest. He is the “Top Gun”. When all the other servers are wearing red and black uniforms, the reflection of Top Gun stands glistening off the greasy pizza with his stylish white and red uniform. This is accented by his huge, golden “Top Gun” pin. I don’t know if he came straight from flight school or just a big Tom Cruise fan, but he is really sharp. He totally steals the show, when dance-time comes around.

When Andrea and I don’t feel like going out, we order in. I love the delivery service almost as much as eating in. The delivery guys always bring the same gusto with them on the scooter as well as in the restaurant. Upon delivery, they always repeat my order and smile when they leave.

Last night was a special occasion because we received a special bonus with our delivered pizza. It was delivered by none other than the Top Gun! I had to take a moment to compose myself... okay...wow! “The Top Gun is delivering my pizza. What an honor to be standing in the street in front of my house with the Top Gun!” I was not disappointed.

He whipped out the receipt and my two Pepsi bottles and handed them to me. “Here are your two Pepsi bottles sir and your bill.”

Smiling, I said, “Thank you.”

Pulling out my pizza box from the hot bag, he did something unexpected. Right there on the street, he opens the pizza box and says, “Sir, you have ordered for one family size simply veg. pizza with pineapple, onions, and extra cheese.” This really surprised me. Isn’t there some pizza-man code about opening the pizza on the street. It defintely cracked me up! For some strange hygienic reason, I felt a little grossed out by this and still in shock by the time he handed me the change.

He was soon on his way and I am not sure what I learned. I guess it doesn’t matter because the pizza was great and what a great memory on the side.